Probe into pyramid video

– Egyptian authorities have launched an investigation into images said to show a naked couple who scaled the Great Pyramid that have sparked outrage in the conservative Muslim country, an official said on Tuesday.

In a video titled Climbing the Great Pyramid of Giza, Danish photographer Andreas Hvid appears to scale the 4 500-year-old tomb on the outskirts of Cairo at night with an unidentified woman who is later seen taking off her top.

Hvid says the video was taken in late November but it was published on YouTube on December 8.

A photograph released by Hvid appears to show the couple completely naked on top of each other while looking in the direction of a nearby pyramid with the horizon illuminated.

“The public prosecution is investigating the incident of the Danish photographer and the authenticity of the photos and video of him climbing the pyramid,” said Mostafa Waziri, the secretary general of Egypt’s supreme antiquities council.

If the video was actually filmed at the top of the pyramid, that would make it a “very serious crime”, Waziri said.

The nearly three-minute video has taken social media by storm and has been the subject of late night talk shows. It has notched up almost three million views on YouTube alone.

“A 7 000-year-old civilisation has turned into a bed sheet,” a Twitter user in Egypt lamented.

Another protested that “they want to soil the dignity and pride of Egyptians”. – AFP